Clover Bottom

About Clover Bottom

Clover Bottom Development Center (CBDC) opened in 1923 and admitted 248 persons during the first nine months of operation. By 1963 the census at the facility reached its all-time high of 1,563 residents.

During the 1960s two other institutions were built, Greene Valley Developmental Center (GVDC) in 1962 and Arlington Developmental Center (ADC) in 1968. These facilities eased the census stress at CBDC.

The suit of Saville et al vs. Treadway et al in 1975 resolved that each person with intellectual disabilities had the right to treatment. As a result of this suit a plan was developed for CBDC to provide for individualized habilitative care and training programs. Another suit in the same time period did away with residents working in the facilities without pay. CBDC had long been a working farm for residents.